Corn-silking machine.



PATENTED JULY 25, 1905.

L. S. PLEGKENSTEIN. CORN SILKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT 6, 1904.

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PATENTED JULY 25, 1905.

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CORN SILKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED 001' 6,1904

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No. 795,598. PATENTED JULY 26,1905.

L. s. FLECKENSTB'IN.

GORN SILKING MACHINE.

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I I WITNESSES: gm Miami" WW- I Arron/ms UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CORN-SILK ING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1905.

Application filed October 6, 1904. Serial No. 227,419.

.To all 1072 0111, i1 may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD S. FLEOKEN- STEIN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Easton, in the county of Talbot and State ofMaryland, have invented an Improved Corn-Silking Machine, of which thefollowing is a specification.

' In order to prepare corn as cut from the cob for canning, it isrequisite to remove the silk, which adheres to and mingles with it ingreater or less quantity. For this purpose various forms of machineshave been devised and used. A usual feature of the same is the provisionof some form of wire screens through which the corn passes downward,leaving the silk adhering to them. while pieces of cob or other foreignsubstances are discharged at one end of the screens. In a short time thesilk accumulates 0n the screens, so that it clogs them and hinders theireffective operation, and it is then necessary to remove the screens forthe purpose of washing and thoroughly cleaning them. This usuallyinvolves stopping the machine for a greater or longer time andcorresponding financial loss. Further, machines of the class referred tohaving screens that merely reciprocate endwise ordinarily fail to meetrequirements.

l have devised a machine which is constructed and operates in a noveland superior manner and involves no arrest of operation for cleaning thescreens.

The invention is embodied in the construction, arrangement, andcombination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view ofthe machine. Fig. 2 is aperspective View illustrating the operation ofinserting or withdrawing the screens. Fig. 3 is a diagrammaticillustration of the compound movement of the screen-holder. Fig. 4: is aplan view of the machine. Fig. 5 is a side elevation, a portion of theside of the screen-holder being broken away. Fig. 6 is a front end viewof the machine. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section of the machine.Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the means for supporting and adjustingthe swinging hanger of the screenholder.

A indicates a stationary rectangular frame having four corner-postsarranged parallel. Within the upper portion of this frame is arranged amovable screen-holder B. The latter is box-like in form, but open attop, bottom, and one end. To the inner and longer sides of thescreen-holder B are attached angular cleats 6, (see Figs. 1, 5, and 7,)which are spaced apart vertically and serve to support the screens U.The latter are thus arranged in series one above the other and parallel,but are inclined toward the rear or delivery end of the machine, asindicated in Fig. 5. The screens may be constructed in any well-known orpreferred manner. For example, a rectangular frame may be constructed ofmetal say iron tubesand a wire screen attached thereto, as shown inFigs. 1 and 2. One end of each of the screens abuts the closed end ofthe holder B, and the several cleats b are provided at their oppositeends with vertical flanges c,constitu ting shoulders or abutmentsagainst which the rear ends of the screens abut. Thus the screens areheld in place during the operation of the machine, but may be easilyremoved by raising their rear ends above the shoulders c and drawingthescreen rearward, as indicated in Fig. 2. It is obvious that the screensmay be inserted by the reverse movement, their inner or forward endssliding along the cleats c, as will be readily understood.

The screen-holder B is supported and operated as will now be described.Its rear end is supported by a swinging U-shaped hanger D, whose endsare curved outward or laterally and form gudgeons that are journaled insockets e, forming attachments of right-angular plates E. (SeeFig. 8.)These plates are arranged in guideways, and the horizontal portion isprovided with a hole through which passes an adjusting-screw F, the samebearing upon the top of one of the posts of the frame. It is obviousthat by manipulation of one of these screws F the angular plates E maybe adjusted higher or lower, which will effect a correspondingadjustment of the hanger D and the end of the screen supported therein.The opposite and forward end of the screen-holder B is supported upon acrankshaft G, which has its bearings on the front portion of thestationary frame A about the middle of its height. The attachment of thescreen-holder B to the cranks of this shaft is made by means ofprojecting bars 6, (see Figs. 1 and 4,) the same being attached to thebottom of the screen-holder B or forming part of the frame thereof. Thebearings are formed in a well-known manner by means of metal boxeshaving detachable caps.

It will be understood that the corn to be as required for cleaning it.

silked is delivered upon the upper screen at a point adjacent to theclosed end of the screenholder B. The shaft G is rotated by powerapplied thereto in any suitable manner as, for instance, by a beltrunning upon a pulley g, keyed upon one end of the shaft. It will beseen that the rotation of the shaft'imparts a like movement to the frontend of the screenholder B, which rocks or swings upon its pivotalconnection with the hanger D. The hanger also swings on its pivots, sothat the movement of the rear ordischarge end of the screenholder B isin the arc of a circle. In brief, the movement of the screen-holder is acompound one, it being in part circular and in part a vibratory orrocking one, the entire movement being described in a vertical plane.The effect, as experience has demonstrated, is a highly advantageousone, since the up-anddown and reciprocating and swinging movement of thescreen greatly facilitates distribution of corn over and its passagethrough the screen. It will be seen that the movement of the screens isgreatest and the changes from one position to another are most abrupt atthe front end of the screen-holder, so that the corn accumulated on theupper screen, where it is delivered from the hopper, is quickly spreadout or distributed.

In practice the crank-shaft by which movement is imparted to thescreen-holder is rotated about two hundred and twenty-'fi ve times aminute, this speed having been found necessary, or at least the best,for effecting the distribution of the corn and its quick passage throughthe screen. A rapid and even violent up-and-down and endwise motion ofthe front end of the screen is thus produced, while the rear end of thescreen is moved or agitated but slightly in comparison, so that it is atall times practicable to remove and insert a screen The machine is thushighly effective for its main purpose, while provision is also made forremoving and cleaning the screens without arresting the motion of thescreen-holder. The ad vantages of this are obvious and require noelaboration. The screens may he graduated in mesh, and in the case ofeach the corn quickly passes through it, leaving the silk adhering tothe wires, while the particles of cob or any other foreign substance ofequal dimension pass off over the rear ends of the screens.

A particular advantage possessed'by my machine is the facility withwhich the screens may be removed for cleaningthat is, for removal of thesilk adhering to the-wires. This may be effected without arresting theopera? tion of the machine, since any screen which may have becomeloaded with silk, so as to require cleaning, may be easily raised at itsrear end and drawn outward, as indicated in Fig. 2, while the otherscreens are left in position and the operation of the machine continuesthe same as before. The particular screen thus removed is washed andthoroughly cleaned and then reinserted in its place. Another screen maybe then removed and cleaned, and so the operation may go on, the removalof the screens and the cleaning thereof being successive as conditionsrequire. The operation of removing and reinsertion of'a screen occupiesbut a few moments.

The parts of the machine that come in contact with the corn arepreferably galvanized, so that they can be easily kept clean and sweet.

My improved machine thus combines the two very important qualities of amovement of the screen-holder which efiects the rapid passage of thecorn through the screens and adaptation for convenient and quick removalof the screens individually while the machine is in operation.

The silked corn is discharged on the imperforate bottom (0, arrangedhorizontally below the screen-holder, and it may be removed therefrom inthe usual way. It may be scraped off sidewise into a box-like receiverH, (see Figs. 5, 6, 7,) where it is mixed with brine and ultimatelydelivered through a valved opening it (see Fig. 7) into a spout ortrough 1, containing a spiral conveyer by which it is moved to thedischarge-spout 2 (See Figs. 1 and 5.) The conveyer is operated by arotary shaft J, (see Fig. 6,) which in turn derives rotation from thecrank-shaft G through the medium of sproket-gearing K.

What I claim is The improved machine for thepurpose specified,comprising a stationary frame, a screenholder arranged within it andclosed at its front end and open at the rear and also at top and bottom,a series of screens arranged one above the other within the said holder,the same being supported as described and adapted to be removed from theopen rear end of the holder, and the means for supporting and actuatingthe screen holder, comprising a swinging hanger connected with its lowerrear portion and pivoted on the stationary frame, and a rotarycrank-shaft arranged in the front portion of the stationary frame andoperatively connected with the lower front end of the screen-holderwhereby the front end of the latter receives a rapid up-and-down andendwise movement, and the rear end a comparatively easy oscillatingmovement, as and for the purpose specified.

LEONARD S. FLECKENSTEIN.

Witnesses:

JOHN C. ANDERSON, WM. H. MENICS.

